The Affair - Danielle Steel Page 0,103

Nadia had gone to Rome alone for a weekend. He was writing full steam ahead again, and it was flowing. They were both busy and working hard. And he was staying at the apartment with her and the girls. She had told her mother about it and Rose said she was cautiously optimistic. He was going to have to prove himself to her.

Olivia and Harley were doing well too. Venetia thought they were even closer than they’d been before. But the explosion between them had been brief. Nicolas and Nadia had been apart for many months, and the damage had been more extensive.

Rose was relieved that they were back together, and hoped it worked. Everyone was wishing them well.

* * *

—

They had been together for three months when Nadia came home from the office one day. The girls were at their gym class with the babysitter, and she opened the mail that had been left on her desk at home. There was a thick unmarked envelope that she opened last. She had brought work home from the office, and had a dozen things on her mind. Nicolas was back in the room he used to write. When she pulled the letter out of the envelope, she stared at it, shocked. She sat down and read through it, and then got up and hurried down the hall to his office. He was correcting some pages he had written the day before on the computer and looked up in surprise when he saw her. She hadn’t knocked. She didn’t say a word. She walked over and handed the papers to him and he stared at them in shock, as she had.

“Shit. How did this happen? I meant to ask you about it a few weeks ago, if we were supposed to do something to stop it, and I forgot. What do we do now?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s too late to reverse it. It looks official,” she said, staring at him. They were divorced. The divorce had gone through. They had signed the papers three months before, and had never stopped the procedure. “Oh my God, I’m not married to you anymore.”

“You’re a free woman.” It was kind of a creepy feeling, like a ship that had slipped its moorings and was drifting out to sea.

They both called their attorneys and were told the same thing. It was too late to reverse it or cancel the proceedings. Their marriage had been dissolved, and the only thing they could do was get married again, if they didn’t want to be divorced. But for now, they were in fact divorced.

They met in Nadia’s office at home after talking to their lawyers, and spoke in whispers. The children were home by then and they didn’t want them to know. Nadia was sure it would panic them, and she felt slightly panicked herself.

“Do you want to get married again?” he asked her, unnerved by it too.

“I think so.”

“You think so? What do you mean by that?”

“What if getting married again screws things up, or jinxes us or something?” She looked worried and he laughed.

“This is ridiculous. We went through hell and we were married. Now we’re back together, and we’re accidentally divorced. Personally, I don’t like it. I like being married to you. I want to be married to you.”

“So do I. I feel a little silly telling people we forgot to cancel our divorce, so now we’re not married.”

“Let’s fix it. We don’t even have to tell anyone beforehand. We can just invite everyone to the château for a long weekend, surprise them when they get there, and do it,” he suggested. Nadia liked that idea too. They agreed not to tell anyone about the papers that arrived. They laughed about it in bed that night. “Actually, it’s kind of sexy making love to you and not being married. I’d forgotten what that’s like.”

“Well, that’s a relief. We can’t get married until at least June,” she reminded him.

“Why not? You have something more important to do?”

“No, Venetia does. She’s not due till mid-May, if she makes it till then. She’s on bed rest, and she won’t be able to travel until the baby is a month old.” He had forgotten.

“Fine. We’ll get married in June. Invite everyone then. I can’t believe I’m planning a wedding with my own wife.”

“I don’t know how I forgot to cancel the papers. I think I was afraid to.”

“And now?” he asked her. “Are you still